Our Teachers

People and situations that hassle us are our great teachers. Receiving praise sometimes may be an encouragement to persevere, but flatters are more like thieves, stealing our opportunity for practice. We may be encouraged to slack off, believing that we can rest on illusory laurels. But our enemies and critics show us our weaknesses and the areas where we can grow, and it is helpful to see them as guides and teachers.

---Taigen Dan Leighton, in Faces of Compassion---